MetroBlood
by KillMagic
Summary: Trying to explore the human nature VS Androids and cybrogs. Plenty of angst, dark humor, Rock and Atlas doesn't die but is suffering the aftermath, and the people in Zone 2 are ready to rebel.
1. Default Chapter

**This fanfic is dedicated to the, unfortunately, fictional Rock. The poor guy shouldn't have died…Rock with his deep blue eyes and that corrupted nature. **

** So what if Rock hasn't died, but suffered the consequences of his love for his father? What if Atlas hasn't died? What if the robots started rebelling?**

** A side note: The fanfic starts off directly after Ziggurat crumbles. Some websites have said that the entire Metropolis population dies after Rock turns himself into a suicide bomb, but I don't think so. I haven't read the manga, but I adored the movie, and I loved the ending. If you start complaining to me that NO WAY would Rock or Atlas survive…who the heck cares? I'm writing for my own self…considering that now, at the moment, there's only a small handful of Metropolis fanfiction out there.**

** Feedback can be e-mailed to: homeworkonfire@hotmail.com OR watercentaur@mail.com. Don't add me to your MSN list. **

**MetroBlood Chapter 1: Torn Circuits**

_Tima…_

He wanted to give up. He wanted to stop searching for her, wanted to tell himself she was nothing but an android, a cyborg. A robot. Nothing but wires and metal. Not human.

But if she was nothing but metal, nothing but wires, then why did he search for what was left of her in the ruins of the Ziggurat? 

Kenichi looked at the numerous scratches on his legs and arms, what he had received picking his way through the rubble and debris. 

He stopped, wiping the sweat off his brow and gingerly kicked at a sheet of metal, revealing a small pink and red radio. He picked it up and gave it a few half-hearted jingles. Delightful jazz crackled and blasted through his ears before giving away to silence.

His eyes skimmed the floor in front of him.

_Was that a hand?_

Fear and excitement jolted through him as he started pulling away at the pieces of metal and cement until a whole arm appeared, an arm covered in a sleeve of a thick black sweater. Disappointment jerked through him as he saw that the hand was too large, too calloused to be Tima's. 

_I couldn't just leave him there_.

In frustration and anger, he pulled the rocks and metal away. His hands started bleeding as he pulled away the large slab of cement, the last heavy weight that pressed the half-dead body to the wreckage.

Brown hair that curled. 

A red, bleeding hole underneath his heart.

A red gash over one eye that spilled blood over the scratched face.

"ROCK?!" Kenichi cried.

The undamaged eye opened, and the clear indigo pupil stared back at him silently. It seemed to be the only thing on the Marduk's entire body that wasn't damaged.

_Murderer…Murderer…Tima…TIMA!_

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. 

Without even thinking again, he grabbed the heavy body and with difficulty, managed to hoist Rock on his shoulders. Half dragging, half carrying, he made his way towards a spot free of debris.

_Why am I helping him?_

Because I'm human, he mustered inside his head as he took off the coat he wore, wadded it into a small ball, and applied pressure to Rock's bleeding gunshot wound. His undamaged eye was shut again, and his breathing was slowing.

"Come on…" he said. "Don't just die – you don't deserve it. No one does."

_Rock didn't deserve to die?_

"Kenichi! Is that you?"

His heart nearly stopped as he looked up. "Atlas! I – the revolution – I thought you were dead!"

"Nearly was dead," Atlas tipped his cap. His hair flowed free from its usual section tied up, and he looked thinner and paler. He peeled back a section of his jacket to reveal that his chest was covered in bandages. "They sealed me up good, but I'm hurt. Badly."

Kenichi didn't dare ask what was hurting – the pain of his wounds, or the pain of the betrayal.

"Who's there?" He asked, stepping over Rock and bending down on one knee. He whistled. "Whoever that is, he's hurt badly."

Kenichi shot a prayer upwards to heaven, so that whatever was listening up there could hear his thanks that Atlas didn't recognize Rock without the Marduk uniform and black sunglasses. 

Atlas took off his fingerless gloves and pulled out a small, pen-like metal device from inside his coat. "Good thing you're applying pressure to that…." He stopped to look at the ruins of the Ziggarut. "Don't tell me…you and _him_ were in _there_ when it crashed?"

"Atlas…"

"Sorry," the older man gently touched Rock's forehead, touching the beginning of the long, ray-like scar that slit across Rock's eye. "He'll never open this eye again. Better get it sealed and sterilized before he gets an infection."

"Shouldn't a doctor – "

"Trust me – just because I live in Zone C doesn't mean I don't know how to handle medical emergencies," Atlas flipped the metal device in his hand. "This is a laser sealer – kind of like your average laser surgical instrument, but it seals your skin together. Hold his arms in case he moves."

"What about applying pressure – "

"Okay, you grab one arm, I grab the other."

Bending over in concentration, Atlas pressed the small button with an index finger and a green laser beam shot out. Holding it like a pen, he ran it up and down Rock's eye slash until it started beeping. Fresh blood welled from the wound, flushing itself out.

"Good thing he's unconscious," Atlas muttered to himself. He flipped the button again, and this time, the laser turned blue. Slowly, and working with the skill of a doctor and an artist, he moved the beam over the sliced flesh. After a few moments, in place of the warm blood, a white scar appeared, stretching from his forehead, across his eye, and down his cheek.

"That's taken care of," Atlas said. "We'll take him to the nearest hospital…say, where's that nice girl? Tima?"

_So much pain…_

"There," Kenichi pointed to the rubble. "She isn't dead Atlas…it was just…she never was alive."

"HAHHH!"

Rock felt his body jerk violently.

_Buried! Buried alive!_

His eyes snapped open, but his vision was strange. He could only see part of everything.

_I can't open my other eye…_

People came to him. They told him it was okay. They told him everything would be fine. 

He screamed that he was Duke Red's son, and his father had all the right in the world to sit on Ziggurat's throne. Not Tima. Not that piece of junk.

He screamed at why he could only open one eye. The gagged him, and drugged him.

He was afraid. He was so afraid.

Kenichi walked through the silent hallway of the Metropolis hospital, glad that for once, they trusted humans to do the medical jobs rather than robots. Atlas was waiting for him outside with his car, where he would take Kenichi and his uncle to the airport, where they would leave Japan in a few hours.

He opened the door to Rock's room, the last room in the long hallway.

He was greeted with a benevolent, stark white wall with a large window that would face the city, but the curtains were drawn. A tray of food lay untouched on a bedside table next to the bed. Rock shifted and opened his undamaged eye. 

"So it was you," Rock said, pushing himself up on an elbow. You that saved me from eternal death," he laughed. "Who do you think you are? God? Damn it, why didn't you just let me die?!"

The last words were shouted and Kenichi jumped. "Rock…"

"I killed Tima, I killed everyone in that damn Ziggurat!" Rock slammed his hand on the table, rattling the plates. "My Father – everyone! I – "

He stopped, breathing hard and staring at the ground, the disheveled hair falling over his eyes.

"Why didn't you just let me die?" He whispered, trying to control his anger.

Kenichi decided to ignore the question; it was something he didn't even know yet. "I'll be leaving for Japan in a few hours, and I wanted to see how you're doing – "

"HOW I'M DOING?" Rock cried. "I'll show you – "

He reached up and tore off the bandage that covered his eye. It was slit shut, and the white scar was still there. "LOOK AT THIS!" He shouted.

"One lost eye is better than two lost eye, Rock," Kenichi said. 

"And what will I do now?" Rock said. "I have no place to go – "

"Make this place a better place," Kenichi said. "You've got leadership skills, Rock, you just don't know how to use them."

"And go live in Zone C?" He spat.

"You're not a Marduk any longer, Rock!" Kenichi shouted. "You're – you're –"

"So you want me to go out there, put on a big smile, wrap my arms around a couple of humans and go off singing that Metropolis could be a better place?" Rock laughed. "I'll tell you – the day I'm 100% happy, is the day all robots die."

"Robots can't die, Rock," Kenichi said quietly. "They never were alive."

"Oh, getting emotional, aren't we?" Rock propped himself up on one elbow and winced in pain. "Tima…did you know that Tima was the exact image of my Father's daughter?"

"No – " 

"Yes, that's why she was created," Rock hissed. "But she's not Father's daughter! She's inhuman, she's metal – she's nothing but junk!"

Kenichi let his hand fly out and hit the side of Rock's cheek, not hard enough to hurt him badly, but hard enough to stun him. "She's not junk! She has feelings – she…"

"She IS junk!" Rock bellowed, and with renew strength, he jumped off his bed and grabbed Kenichi at the collar of his shirt. Remembering the fear of what happened to him last time he was in Rock's grip, he froze on the spot.

"Listen, this will do you good," Rock whispered. "Tima is nothing but metal and circuits! She was programmed to feel those emotions, programmed to be a human – at least for a while. She was just a toy – metal! Metal!"

Rock shoved him to the floor, and he gripped his side. Limping, he walked back to his bed and climbed upon it.

"Go," Rock said. 

"Yeah," Kenichi picked himself up. "The – the medical bills are paid already. Bye."

"Yeah, but no thanks."

Kenichi resisted the urge to slam the door, but instead, he very calmly stepped over the threshold and shut the door.

"Good bye, Rock…good bye Metropolis." He whispered.

Atlas was waiting for him as he jumped into the car – a cross between a hovercraft and a jeep was more like it – and Atlas started up the engine.

"A friend of yours?" Atlas asked as he drove down the road, which was clear of a few cars. Since the destruction of the Ziggurat, everyone seemed to be staying at home until everything was cleared.

Luckily, Atlas had to swerve away from a bad driver and he swore loudly, allowing Kenichi to keep quiet. 

"Too bad you're leaving here, huh?" Atlas said again, two hours later in front of the airport. He handed him the suitcase. "Take care of yourself, and give me a call if you ever come back here."

"I doubt it," Kenichi took his suitcase. "Thanks Atlas, for everything. You sure you don't want to leave this place as well?"

"I was here to change it in the first place," Atlas grinned. "I'm not going without completing my job. Tell your uncle hello."

"More like good-bye," Kenichi shook Atlas's hand. "Thanks again. I'll miss you."

He took a step from the airport, returning Atlas's wave.

A sound of a thousand stars exploding rang in his ears and he felt himself being shot backwards into Atlas. He cried out in pain as he hit the car and glass shattered behind him.

He turned, blinking away blood in his eyes and saw Atlas struggling to stand up. Except for a few scratches on his face and a heavy, bleeding wound on his hand, he looked fine.

"Kenichi!" He heard Atlas mouth, but he couldn't hear a word.

"I can't hear!" He shouted back. Fear gripped his stomach. Was he suddenly deaf? And what was the explosion?

The airport!

"Uncle!" He screamed, listening to his own silence but his throat burn. "No – "

Atlas pulled at his arm. "Kenichi! We have to go _now_!"

From the dust, the shapes started emerging.

Androids. Dozens of them – or maybe hundreds of them!

They emerged from the dust, all of them in different size and shape, but all of their eyes glowed a remarkable green – the same color of the beam that Ziggurat sent out to the sun.

"It's from that freak experiment!" He saw Atlas cry.

They were all heading towards him and Atlas. Too shock to move, he felt Atlas grab his arms and dragged him away, but it was no use. The robots – 

Dust swerved around and a heavy wind blew across his head. Looking up, he saw a silver vehicle of some sort – a small, streamlined plane that hovered seven feet off the ground.

The door opened and without thinking twice, Kenichi felt Atlas grab him under his arms and dragged him into the streamlined plane.

Breathing heavily, he looked up at who was driving.

"Rock!" He cried, and again, he couldn't hear himself. "You – "

Rock turned around, a black patch over his damaged eye. "Both of you just shut up and stay still! I know you can't hear – it's result of the explosion. Just stay calm – we'll be safe. And Kenichi? Get something on that head wound."

He could hardly read the few last words on Rock's lips before he crashed into blackness and silence.

"You're terribly weak did you know that?"

Kenichi opened his eyes, relieved at once that he could hear. But his second thought made him push himself up from the soft surface he was lying on. He looked up to see Rock sitting on a low chair with a flickering yellow lamp over his head. He was wearing loose black pants, and a dark navy sweater – something so similar to the outfit he wore when he used himself as a suicide bomb – he even had his sunglasses back on. 

"Where's Atlas?" Fear rushed through him.

"Hey you!" Rock said rather rudely and threw a boot at a small door. 

"Give me a moment!" Atlas shouted, from behind the door, probably a bathroom.

"That wasn't exactly **nice**," Kenichi said. "His name is Atlas."

"Your name is Bastard," Rock said, satisfied.

"Where are we?" Kenichi asked.

"Zone 2."

"A Marduk leader, in Zone 2? Give me a break," Kenichi rubbed his eyes. 

Rock sneered at him. "Ban's nephew with the leader of the Marduks? Give ME a break."

"Uncle…" Kenichi whispered. Hot, angry tears welled up in his eyes and he buried himself back in the covers. He sobbed deep into the sheets. "Uncle Ban…"

"No time to cry," he heard Rock say stiffly. 

"What would you know about losing your family?" Kenichi ripped the sheets off his head and glared at Rock, who was now polishing a small handgun. "Not only did you Father just about had the entire city in his hands – "

"I was an orphan," Rock snipped angrily, yet he did not move. "Duke Red – Father – took me in." 

"Some Father," Kenichi whispered.

"Look, I just saved you and that – " Rock jerked his head towards the direction of the bathroom where Atlas was inside. "That person from a whole bunch of freaked robots that just bombed the only way out of Metropolis."

"Why did you help us? I thought you wanted to get rid of me – "

"When Tima was around, I wanted to get rid of you," Rock hissed. "But now that she's dead and gone, and still the same piece of metalloid junk – "

"She's not JUNK!" Kenichi jumped to his feet and pain rang through his legs, and his head started throbbing. "She's – "

"When will you give it a break with that thing?" Rock took off his sunglasses, his undamaged blue eye burning with azure fire. "Tima was created in the figure of my Father's dead daughter…I saw her when she was being created. She's nothing but metal, circuits, and silicone. She was _programmed_ to act the way she did! I'm doing the world a favor in having her destroyed!"

"NO!" Kenichi grabbed the bedpost to balance himself. "Listen…have you ever had a stuffed animal? Or – "

"Dumb metaphor," Rock said, looking away. "Shut up before I decide to make you shut up."

"No! Something you were attached to – mentally…and you never want to throw it away, even though it was lifeless…"

"You love her then," Rock faced him. "You love – "

"I don't…" Kenichi stopped. 

"See? You can't even admit it," Rock gave him a cruel smile, his eye narrowing. "You can't admit that you love nothing. You should be thanking me for destroying her…it."

"You didn't," Kenichi slid down and buried his head on his knees. "I did."

Rock nearly dropped his gun. "What are you talking about?"

"When you used yourself as a suicide bomb, Tima wasn't on the Ziggurat throne," Kenichi rubbed his eyes. "I pulled her off it before she could do any more damage."

"Then tried to save her," Rock said, folding his arms across his chest. "Then you pulled me out from that rubble. Aren't you afraid I'm going to have you shredded into little pieces and burn each bit of flesh?"

"I thought you said that you weren't interested in killing me when Tima wasn't here anymore," Kenichi said.

The bathroom door swung open and Atlas stepped out, drying his hair. He looked tired, and there were numerous scratches over him but he looked fine. Rock slipped on his glasses.

Suddenly, Atlas's large brown eyes opened and his mouth dropped. "Kenichi!" He gasped. "What the hell – you haven't told me this was – he's a Marduk!"

Kenichi grumbled, "You two should get along fine. One's a robot hater; the other's a robot hater. I'm sure you have a lot in common. Excuse me, but I'm getting out of here…"

"There's no where out of Metropolis," Rock said.

"What?"

"The only transportation available was through the airport," Rock said.

"No…what about a private plane? A – " Fear throbbed in his head.

"No, don't you understand? There's no way out," Rock removed his glasses again. "And how would you survive up there with a gung-ho throng of robots ready to tear your flesh?"

"You mean, out of Zone 2?"

"There are no robots in Zone 2, I'm sure of that," Atlas frowned. "I take that back. I _made_ sure of that."

"Behold, the Leader," Rock mumbled behind his breath. "What's that in your pocket?"

Startled, Kenichi pulled out the heavy object in his pocket and swallowed, hard. It was Tima's heart – the one Fifi handed to him after Ziggurat crumbled.

"Oh, damn it all," Rock said.

"I still remembered how you shot her," Kenichi said, staring at the wires. "You hit her here, right here."

"And look what I got in return," Rock pulled up his sweater, showing a rather ugly stitch scar under his heart. He pulled off the eye patch to show that it was slit shut. "You should have let me die."

"How can I? I'm human!" Kenichi shouted, clutching what was left in Tima's heart in his hands.

"Will you two shut up?" Atlas folded his arms across his chest. "I'm the senior of this group here and I opt that we find a way how to get pass those robots."

"Another revolt?" Rock raised his eyebrows. "You and the rest of the – "

Atlas ignored him and raised a hand to silence him. Kenichi was amazed at Atlas's strong leadership skill, despite the circumstances. "There's still a whole bunch of us left in Zone 2, and the unaffected robots in Zone 3 – "

"Wait, wait," Kenichi said. "I don't understand – what happened to those robots? The ones on the surface?"

"When Duke Red released that beam that hit the sun's black spot, it released some sort of magnetic energy that destroyed just about all the robots on the surface," Atlas said. "I don't know what it is, but it manipulated some sort of program in the robots – 

"So now we have a 1960's theory on robots rebelling against mankind," Rock rolled his one good eye. 

"And it's my job to turn them back into useful computer junk with a total of 4MB memory of RAM," Atlas said. "I don't know about you two."

"I don't have a place to go," Kenichi said.

"Well, at least get out of my place," Rock said. "This is my hideout, mind you, and if you feel better, leave with Atlas."

"You're a snake, Rock!" Kenichi said. "Marduk…that's a Babylonian dragon, isn't it? You manipulated bastard – "

Atlas placed a hand on Kenichi's shoulder. "The boy will be my responsibility, Marduk. But for heaven's sakes, let him stay here for a while. He could hardly stand, let alone move."

Rock grunted.

"I think he said yes," Atlas pulled a heavy quilt over Kenichi. "Rock…you and I are going to talk. Let's go."

"What makes you think I'll go with you?"

"I doubt you can stand another moment breathing the same air Kenichi is breathing in," Atlas rolled his eyes helplessly. "Sharing carbon dioxide and oxygen with the person you despise is terribly bad for your health, did you know that?"

Rock stood up and opened the door, slamming it shut.

"That's taken care of," Atlas sighed and started to follow the Marduk. "Sleep well Kenichi. I'll be back soon."

Kenichi nodded and heard a soft click of the door shutting.

Before he slid back to sleep, he clutched at Tima's broken heart, crying.


	2. Pain's Birth

Did I forgotten to mention this last time? All of Metropolis's characters and settings belong to the late Osamu Tezuka – except for Rock, Tima and a number of others that probably belongs to Tri-Star because they didn't appear in his 1949 comic…the plot belongs to yours truly. 

Kenichi woke up what felt like hours later, but the small alarm clock Rock had placed on the broken down table read that it was only an hour. He wiggled back in the sheets only to find something digging uncomfortably at his neck. He reached behind his pillow and pulled out a small, worn leather wallet.

It was probably Rock's, he thought, searching through the contents. It had a few bills in it, coins, and a receipt for something from last year. Not that interesting.

Something caught his eye – something more colorful than the bills or the yellowed receipt.

_Photos_?

He reached inside the clear plastic pocket and pulled out several wallet size photos and he scattered them on the bed.

Was that Rock? He pulled the most-faded picture and looked at it. A younger version of Duke Red sat on a large, upholstered chair with – he squinted hard. The young, four or five year-old infant on his knees reaching up to his face was Rock all right. He could make out the messy brown hair and the large blue eyes. There was something so sickened painful and innocent about the picture that he had to put it away. 

The next picture showed Rock in his early teens – probably thirteen or so in faded jeans and a white shirt, walking the streets of the Metropolis, looking casual but alert. Early Marduk training? Kenichi snorted and flipped it over to the next one.

_Tima_?

He nearly dropped the picture. Tima…Tima! His hands started shaking as he stared at the photograph.

It was Tima – Tima with the same golden hair curling at her neck and the blue eyes that were lighter than Rock's. She wore a light, strapless gown the color of cream and her hand curled on the arm next to hers. She looked up, a radiant smile, a human's smile on her pale coral lips as she looked up lovingly to the boy next to her.

Rock.

It was Rock, dressed in a black suit and looking rather stiff and nervous, but happy all the same. In confusion, Kenichi flipped the photograph over, searching for some date at the back, or some clue of what was going on.

Tima…and Rock? It couldn't be.

He looked at the picture again, and found that Rock looked younger than he was now, or maybe it was because of the innocence and joy on his face? And Tima – it shocked him of how human she looked. 

"What the – what the hell do you think you're – "

He felt a whiz of strong wind on his face and he jumped back to see Atlas forcing Rock's hand away from his face, preventing him from punching Kenichi.

"Give me the pictures, damn it!" Rock shouted. "Give it to me, or I'll kill you!"

"Calm down!" Atlas roared, shoving Rock against the wall. "What's with you, you crazy Marduk?"

"You…and Tima?" Was all Kenichi could say, holding the photograph of Tima and Rock in his hands.

Rock stopped, limping against Atlas's strong hold, defeated. He slid down to the floor and cradled his head in his hands as if all strength had left him. Atlas looked at him and back at Kenichi with confusion in his eyes.

"Tima…that Tima is not the Tima you knew," Rock said softly. "That girl is _Tima_…Duke Red's daughter…my sister."

"What?" Kenichi said, confused. "I don't understand…"

"I don't either," "Atlas pulled up a stool and sat on it.

"I was adopted at a very early age…I don't know, three? Five?" Rock shrugged. "It was after the war…I didn't remember much, just this man with light hair and a very large nose picked me up and took me to his home."

"Duke Red," Atlas said.

"Yes, Duke Red," Rock took a deep breath. "His daughter – Tima. We were about the same age and I guess he wanted some sort of playmate for her. We grew up together, and while I didn't have any friends, she didn't either. We were always _there_ for each other." Rock sounded like he was talking to himself. "Being the Duke's daughter, she didn't really fit in very well with the other children at the school we went to. She got bullied, and I was her protector. Despite the fact that I was a bastard – nobody's wanted child, Duke Red was pleased at how we were always together. When Tima was going to be next in his successor, he wanted me to always be by her side, as an advisor and protector. That picture there? That was the official announcement. I still remember that party – Tima held on to me all that time. She was so proud of it…and so innocent."

_Love_? Kenichi kept his mouth shut about that, even though he knew the answer. "So if Duke Red admired you so much why did he hate every inch of you?"

"He didn't – not until the last few years," Rock smiled grimly. "I remembered that day – we were down somewhere at night – just taking a walk when Tima said she wanted to marry me," Rock buried his head between his knees again. "It was that moment, when a malfunctioned android somehow came up to us and – " a large sob broke from his throat. "The damn thing tore Tima apart!" He screamed, raising his head and gasping in a breath of air. "It grabbed her and pulled her into tiny little pieces! I couldn't do anything – I tried shooting it, I ran into it and tired to pull its wires apart – I," Rock sobbed hard, gripping his hair into his fists. "It was all my fault! And the blood – _her_ blood was all over the floor, all over me. I remembered the robot grabbing my neck and blackness…and when I woke up again, I was in the hospital. Tima was dead. She was gone."

Kenichi covered his mouth in horror. No wonder Rock hated robots! No wonder he was the leader of the Marduks!

"Duke Red never forgave me," Rock leaned back and laughed. "He nearly had me killed, and the only thing that kept him from doing it was that Tima would never forgive him if she was still alive. That was three years ago – and if he thinks that some android in the figure of Tima was going to replace her – well, he's wrong! No android will ever replace Tima…no…"

Atlas looked at Kenichi. "That girl…that girl you were with was an android?!"

"Yes, she was an android," Kenichi said. He looked at Rock and knew instantly that if he didn't do something, the young Marduk leader would fall deeper into his own insanity, to a point that he couldn't be drawn out. He needed to do something – and fast. He looked at Atlas with pleading eyes.

"Hey, Rock," Atlas cleared his throat. "This is your chance to have it against the androids…what's left of everyone of us – we're going to fight against them."

Kenichi gave Atlas a look of pure loathing.

Atlas returned it with a "Can you do better?" look. He grabbed Rock's wrists and pulled him up. "Come on, let me introduce you to my band of close friends that survived the revolt."

Surprisingly, Rock grabbed a heavy denim jacket off his wall, threw it on his shoulders, and obediently followed Atlas out. Feeling better, Kenichi stuffed Rock's photos back into the wallet and slid it into his own pocket before running after the two men.

Atlas led them threw a dirty street to what looked like a pub that had probably seen better days with a blinking neon picture of a sleazy, pink lion stalking a blue gazelle. Atlas pushed open the door and Kenichi followed close to Rock's shoulder.

"FREEZE!"

He yelped, hearing the sounds of a gun – no, _guns_ cocking into their ready position in the darkness.

"Whoa, pals, it's me," Atlas said smoothly, no fear emitting from him.

There was the sound of an awful electrical buzz, and light filled the room. Three pairs of eyes stared back at them.

"Atlas!"

"Whoa, buddy, we thought you were dead!"

"What happened to you – "

"Who's that – "

"Whoa!" Atlas said. "All of you sit down and let me do the introducing."

Kenichi finally got a good look at them all, and realized they were an odd bunch. A_ very _odd bunch.

"This is our residential hacker, Isaac," Atlas said, placing a hand on a tall, skinny man with long black hair and gray eyes with a fire to match Rock's looked up at him and Rock, giving them each a wary glance before returning to his computer. Kenichi stifferned a gasp – one of Isaac's eyes was made out of pure metal and had an optic laser flashing in it, like a digital camera! He swallowed, hard.

"Stephen," Atlas nodded to the strong, muscular man with a blonde buzz cut and green eyes wearing a white muscle tank. He gave Rock and Kenichi each a friendly hello.

"And this…" Atlas stepped up to the only woman of the team, probably in her mid-twenties, with wavy brown hair falling to her waist and clear brown eyes. "Is Leila, my cousin."

Leila narrowed her eyes. "You're a Marduk, aren't you?"

Rock's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he kept his cool. "How did you know?"

"Cold, sunglasses…" Leila reached up and tore off Rock's black sunglasses before he could protest. "I hate it when people try to hide themselves behind shades…shows how insecure they really are."

Rock hissed and touched his damaged eye, making sure the patch was there. "You – "

"The name's Leila," she said. "Not "you" or "hey you"."

"This is Rock," Kenichi said quickly before Rock lost his temper. "And I'm Kenichi."

"Say, weren't you that one kid…" Stephen said. "I _saw_ you when that deserted laboratory burnt down. You were with that old dude…"

Atlas quickly placed a hand on Stephen's shoulder to silence him, but it was too late. Kenichi barely turned away until he broke down again, the tears running down his cheeks. No one was there to comfort him…no one. 

He felt a pair of hands take his shoulders and guide him to an empty seat. He looked up and saw that it was Leila, a concerned look on her face. She looked at Stephen. "Shut your mouth. The kid's got enough of a shock already. Atlas, whatever is going on?" She stole a sidelong glance at Rock.

"Down!!" Atlas suddenly yelled, grabbing Kenichi and shoving him down on the hardwood floor, smashing his face. A glass of Bloody Mary on the counter slid off the glass surface and hit the floor, shattering glass the color of rubies and the liquor across his face.

The sound of the door exploding filled the tavern.

"AH!" He gasped, shards of splinters rocking against his body. A large piece of wood clattered and landed on his legs.

"Over, over, over!" Atlas cried, grabbing him before he could protest and tossing him over the counter. More bottles of liquor crashed to the floor and Kenichi covered his face before any of it could scratch at his skin. Blinking away the stench of alcohol, he looked at the intruder.

It was an android.

The android was about three times as tall as he was, and would probably be about five or six times as wide if it wasn't so broken down and weathered – chunks of its outer covering was pulled out to reveal the inner skeleton and sparkling circuits. The head looked like an oversized human skull and it bared its teeth, which consisted of tiny pieces of metal sharpened to glittering fangs. The overlarge hands were claws – foot long sharpened claws that could slice through stone. Loose electricity crackled and buzzed, crawling over the metal surface.

"Don't touch it!" He heard Rock bark.

Atlas whirled around, his feet spread apart with the machine gun in his hands. Leila went down on one knee, pulling out a small crossbow and holding it against her waist, her other arm out in front of her. Stephen stood warily in front of the android, veins popping up on his skin.

"GET BACK FROM IT!" Rock shouted, the handgun in his hand, shoving Stephen away. "It can electrocute you, can't you see?"

"Stay back!" Isaac said. "I'll try to hack into the motherboard!"

Isaac's mechanical eye was illuminated with blue light, and optic fiber strands shot out from it and inserted into the android's open skin surface. An illuminated VR screen opened itself up in front of him like a transparent black box with small green lettering that ran across the screen.

"NOW" Atlas shouted.

Kenichi cried out, covering his ears against the sound of bullets against metal, and the sharp _twang _and _CRINK_ of Leila's crossbow hitting against the robot's metal.

"NO, NO, NO!" He heard Rock shout. "What are you trying to do, kill yourselves?"

Kenichi stood up only to have a bullet whiz pass his ear and hit a bottle of blue liquor behind his ear.

"NO!" Rock grabbed his arm and pulled him back before flames from the alcohol could erupt on his body. He crash-landed on the broken Bloody Mary glass, cutting his arm.

"STOP!" Rock shouted. "STOP SHOOTING!"

Kenichi lifted up his head just in time to see a bullet bounce off the malfunctioned android and missed Stephen by the ear. Isaac cursed, still trying to hack inside the android's brain. He ducked to avoid Leila's electronic crossbow bolt, and the optic fibers ripped away from the robot. The black, transparent VR screen in front of hi face disappeared.

"NO!" Rock shouted. "Stop shooting! You'll kill yourself! It's – it's adamantine metal!"

Every one of them stopped at that moment.

Rock skidded down, shoving his body on the wet liquor on the floor and slid underneath the robot.

"NO! What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Atlas shouted.

The android glared down at Rock, baring its fangs.

Rock flipped himself up behind the robot; there was a small clicking sound, and then a single gunshot.

The robot stopped, and fell right on its face. Electric crackled once – twice…and it didn't move again.

Rock stood behind it, gun still in ready position, and his feet spread wide apart. He took another deep breath and looked at them.

"It's adamantine lined, you idiots," he said, dangerously quiet. "If one of YOUR bullets or YOUR crossbow bolts," he hissed at Atlas and Leila, "would have bounced off and hit one of us, we would've been _dead_."

Leila decided to explode and Atlas had to grab her arm. "Well, how on earth am I suppose to know it's _adamantine_ lined?!" She screeched, Atlas holding her back from hitting Rock. "It's looks like damned metal to me!"

Rock kept his cool, but Kenichi could see he was close to breaking point. "6893WQ," he pointed behind the robot's jaw. "One of the newer combat models, but I have no idea where the fangs came from. Stupid though – 789 MB of RAM, one of the older models," he slid his gun back on his belt and looked at Isaac, who was still staring at his torn optic fibers. "Trying to hack into it is worthless with a high-tech device like yours. The only way to stop it is to hit the power button on the back – and seeing it was jammed, I just shot it. It's the only part that isn't coated in adamantine. And the thing isn't even connected to the main power stream of Metropolis, like all robots are supposed to be. This one is illegal and dangerous."

Kenichi wasn't the only one gaping at Rock.

"Hey – being a Marduk isn't just about shooting guns at robots," Rock shrugged. "You have to take classes on robotic knowledge and android cyborgligy (Author's note: a word I made up. Think biology – the study of life. Now thing android cyborgligy – the study of androids and cyborgs.)"

Rock picked up a large chip of broken Bloody Mary cocktail glass. "You all think you're going to start a revolution against the robots when you don't even know how to get rid of a malfunctioned factory-made war android?"

Kenichi looked at Atlas and suddenly knew what was going on. The team he made up consisted of almost everything he needed for a revolution. Atlas and Leila were remarkable marksmen for shooting at a distance, Stephen was the main physical strength behind them for close-combat, and Isaac had some sort of inner electronic device in him that allowed him to control nearly matter-less optic fibers that could hack into the brains of robots. All they needed was someone who was an expert on how androids functioned, and it looked like they got what they needed.

Rock.

And what was he suppose to be? Some sort of…fifth wheel? He took a shaky breath and sat down.

"Hey – someone get the kid something. He's bleeding," Leila pulled her sleeve over her crossbow and picked up a bottle of liquor that did not explode in the fire or broke among Atlas's bullets, and walked towards him, pulling out the cork stopper in the process.

"Wha – "

Kenichi felt her strong hand grab his shoulder and pin him down.

"What the – " He said.

She poured the green liquor over his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He shrieked in pain as it came in contact with his flesh.

"Just cleaning it," she let him go and he clutched at his cheek.

"That glass had Bloody Mary in it!" Kenichi nearly jumped up and down in frustration. "It already had LIQOUR in it for idiot's sakes!"

"That's not the point!"

Fire and anger burned inside him mixed with the pain on his face and the weariness in his heart made him pull his fist back to hit at Leila's face, but the ice that came from her brown eyes made him stop, and he dropped his arm.

"Rock?" Atlas said softly.

Rock was crouched down, looking at the robot, one knee on the floor and a gloved hand on his face.

"It's the same one, he said, his voice muffled through his hand.

"Same what?" Kenichi asked.

"Same one!" He stood up, his face red and his teeth gritted. "Same on," he hissed.

Kenichi looked at Atlas who shrugged.

"It's the same one, damn it!" He shouted. "It's the same android that killed Tima!"


End file.
